A Danish reader writes:
"Allow me to illustrate what we're up against here and why the people of Denmark have every right to refuse to tolerate or appease Muslim intolerance. Back in the 1980's I covered a murder trial for a Copenhagen tabloid. The victim was a woman from a family of Kurdish guest workers newly arrived in Denmark from Turkey. Her crime was to divorce her husband in order to support herself and their children through honest labor. By doing so, she violated the family's so-called "honor" and enraged her father in-law to the point where he ordered his two youngest sons to revenge this blatant violation of his patriarchal prerogative. Returning home in the early morning hours after a night spent cleaning offices she was set upon by her teenaged brothers in-law who stabbed her repeatedly before leaving her to bleed to death in the street.
Now try to imagine the impact of this horror in Denmark, a country with very low crime rates and also one of - if not the most - advanced countries in the world in terms of equality between the sexes. Danes have a long and proud tradition of tolerating and protecting minorities whether they be religious, sexual or otherwise. When Protestants from the 17th century fled Catholic persecution in - what was then - the Spanish Netherlands, they were welcomed with open arms in Denmark. Jews have practiced their religion freely in Denmark and were so seamlessly integrated into the national fabric that looking the other way and pretending not to notice simply wasn't an option for their Christian compatriots when the Nazi occupiers came knocking on Jewish doors in 1943. What I'm trying to say here is that Danes have a proven track record of openness, fairness and tolerance. We are however most intolerant towards those who would limit or abolish those freedoms we simply take for granted."
I have to say I am ashamed that the West has not been more forthright in defending the Danes. That idiots like John Kerry and Bill Clinton would call standing up to Islamist intimidation bigotry appalls me. The West has a right to say that all its citizens have an inviolable right to free speech, and that all its female - and gay and Jewish - citizens have a right not to submit to medieval barbarism. Period.